The Pope has banned anyone who supports ‘gay culture’ from becoming a Catholic priest

A new guide to training Catholic priests which has been approved by Pope Francis has forbidden anyone who supports gay culture from becoming priests, according to the Huffington Post.

According to reports, while the guide insists that the church respects gay and bi people, anyone who is “practising homosexuality, showing deep-seated homosexual tendencies or supporting what is called gay culture” cannot take holy orders.

The regulations do, however, allow people who experience “homosexual tendencies which may only be the expression of a transitory problem, such as for example that of adolescence which is not yet complete,” to train to be priests.

2016 has seen Pope Frances double down on the church’s opposition to LGBT rights, with particularly strong resistance being shown to the transgender equality movement.

In April, he published official guidance that urged Catholics to show greater understanding to lesbians and gay people, but also suggested that trans people were attempting to play God, while in October he described modern gender theory as “ideological colonization”.